Simon Menashy's guest appearances

Simon Menashy

The Twenty Minute VC (20VC): Venture Capital | Startup Funding | The Pitch

Prorata

Naval Ravikant

Mark Cuban

Reid Hoffman

Elon Musk

Bill Gates

James Beshara

Josh Wolfe

Annie Duke

Frank Chen

James Loftus

David Helgason

Kyle Samani

Sheryl Sandberg

David Tisch

Wade Foster

OwlTail

David Benigson

This week's guests are David Benigson, Co-founder at Signal AI, and Simon Menashy, Partner at MMC Ventures.Signal AI is a leading global external intelligence company which has 40% of the Fortune 500 as customers for real-time market and media intelligence to uncover trends, risks and opportunities. MMC (which has one of the largest portfolios of AI companies in Europe) invested in Signal’s Series A round in 2016 alongside Hearst Ventures, Frontline &amp; LocalGlobe.We discuss:Engaging seed investors early on, through free MOTsThe truly horizontal SaaS model, and how even now, Signal refuses to focus on a specific verticalThe use of McKinsey's Horizon model for developing a product roadmap, and the importance of academic relationships to support in doing soMMCs input to sales methodology in the early daysSafety and ethics in AI todayCulture: how the business is much stronger than any one individual

This week's guests are David Benigson, Co-founder at Signal AI, and Simon Menashy, Partner at MMC Ventures. Signal AI is a leading global external intelligence company which has 40% of the Fortune 500 as customers for real-time market and media intelligence to uncover trends, risks and opportunities. MMC (which has one of the largest portfolios of AI companies in Europe) invested in Signal’s Series A round in 2016 alongside Hearst Ventures, Frontline &amp; LocalGlobe. We discuss:<ul><li>Engaging seed investors early on, through free MOTs</li><li>The truly horizontal SaaS model, and how even now, Signal refuses to focus on a specific vertical</li><li>The use of McKinsey's Horizon model for developing a product roadmap, and the importance of academic relationships to support in doing so</li><li>MMCs input to sales methodology in the early days</li><li>Safety and ethics in AI today</li><li>Culture: how the business is much stronger than any one individual</li></ul>

S1E2: David Benigson, Co-founder @ Signal AI <> Simon Menashy, Partner @ MMC Ventures

Simon Menashy is Investment Director at MMC Ventures where he is responsible for leading new and follow on investments as well as supporting existing MMC portfolio companies. He also sits on the board for WeDo, Boticca and Sky Futures and works closely with a number of other B2B and B2C businesses including Growth Intelligence, Mubi, Small World, Somo.  Prior to MMC Simon worked in European tech and media consulting, working with clients including the BBC, Virgin Media, BT, Thompson Reuters and Ofcom as part of the Deloitte Strategy team in London   Items Mentioned in Today's Show:  Base79 Growth Intelligence  In Today's Episode You Will Learn: 1.) How Simon made his move from consulting into the world of VCs? 2.)Simon recently tweeted how not to pitch to VCs, so what should founders be doing when pitching? What are the fundamentals in terms of required documentation?  3.) Does Simon agree with Peter Thiel’s opinion that disruption is fundamentally bad for society? What industries does Simon feel will be next disrupted? 4.) With the increasing length of time it takes for venture backed companies to IPO, how does Simon feel the funding path is changing? 5.) How does Simon believe the tech eco system is going in London and what can be done to increase VC funding and engender a silicon valley esque feel to London? Today's episode finishes with a quick fire round where we hear Simon's thoughts on the apple watch, what the biggest red flags are when viewing a pitch and his most recent investment and why he said yes? You can follow Harry, Simon and The Twenty Minute VC on Twitter.

Simon Menashy is Investment Director at <a href="https://www.google.co.uk/url?sa=t&amp;rct=j&amp;q=&amp;esrc=s&amp;source=web&amp;cd=1&amp;sqi=2&amp;ved=0CCEQFjAA&amp;url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.mmcventures.com%2F&amp;ei=CyBjVdmIO8H7UNOXgdgN&amp;usg=AFQjCNGTe8dKjlZCJ84Iz8Ho8SEowfA8Ew&amp;sig2=KyEB5HZ_xAOhb687m0atLQ&amp;bvm=bv.93990622,d.d24" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">MMC Ventures</a> where he is responsible for leading new and follow on investments as well as supporting existing MMC portfolio companies. He also sits on the board for <a href="https://www.google.co.uk/url?sa=t&amp;rct=j&amp;q=&amp;esrc=s&amp;source=web&amp;cd=1&amp;sqi=2&amp;ved=0CCEQFjAA&amp;url=http%3A%2F%2Fwedo.co.uk%2F&amp;ei=ViBjVc2zMcKrUe72gMAF&amp;usg=AFQjCNEQdDuU2cS4tQeytK_0Htfd-W92Qw&amp;sig2=4rdpBdtisOvvKKLtHbnz6Q" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">WeDo</a>, <a href="https://www.google.co.uk/url?sa=t&amp;rct=j&amp;q=&amp;esrc=s&amp;source=web&amp;cd=1&amp;ved=0CDIQFjAA&amp;url=https%3A%2F%2Fboticca.com%2F&amp;ei=eSBjVZ7lL8j-UJaAg7AE&amp;usg=AFQjCNHeLzVS6aE4TmSJH_I9MaNutSBYXw&amp;sig2=nFTWECV8N6o0AqYNP_nWKQ&amp;bvm=bv.93990622,d.d24" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Boticca</a> and <a href="http://www.sky-futures.com" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Sky Futures</a> and works closely with a number of other B2B and B2C businesses including Growth Intelligence, Mubi, Small World, Somo.  Prior to MMC Simon worked in European tech and media consulting, working with clients including the BBC, Virgin Media, BT, Thompson Reuters and Ofcom as part of the Deloitte Strategy team in London Items Mentioned in Today's Show: <ul> <li><a href="http://www.mmcventures.com/base79-case-study/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Base79</a></li> <li><a href="http://www.growthintel.com" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Growth Intelligence</a></li> </ul> In Today's Episode You Will Learn: 1.) How Simon made his move from consulting into the world of VCs? 2.)Simon recently tweeted how not to pitch to VCs, so what should founders be doing when pitching? What are the fundamentals in terms of required documentation?  3.) Does Simon agree with Peter Thiel’s opinion that disruption is fundamentally bad for society? What industries does Simon feel will be next disrupted? 4.) With the increasing length of time it takes for venture backed companies to IPO, how does Simon feel the funding path is changing? 5.) How does Simon believe the tech eco system is going in London and what can be done to increase VC funding and engender a silicon valley esque feel to London? Today's episode finishes with a quick fire round where we hear Simon's thoughts on the apple watch, what the biggest red flags are when viewing a pitch and his most recent investment and why he said yes? You can follow <a href="https://www.google.co.uk/url?sa=t&amp;rct=j&amp;q=&amp;esrc=s&amp;source=web&amp;cd=3&amp;ved=0CCwQFjAC&amp;url=https%3A%2F%2Ftwitter.com%2Fharrystebbings&amp;ei=vB9jVdTlGcH1UOyHAQ&amp;usg=AFQjCNHnoQYeWEpG893Au-yAuCJoGueU6g&amp;sig2=g71WgoZ1tn5CAeT6wdeYHA&amp;bvm=bv.93990622,d.d24" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Harry</a>, <a href="https://www.google.co.uk/url?sa=t&amp;rct=j&amp;q=&amp;esrc=s&amp;source=web&amp;cd=2&amp;sqi=2&amp;ved=0CCcQFjAB&amp;url=https%3A%2F%2Ftwitter.com%2Fsimonmenashy&amp;ei=2B9jVZnqCou6UeWYgfAM&amp;usg=AFQjCNGSPnArcoHdXBAc9R8dHdifjbW_dA&amp;sig2=7y-ybhqK-_bzJW3pgPxWkw&amp;bvm=bv.93990622,d.d24" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Simon</a> and <a href="https://www.google.co.uk/url?sa=t&amp;rct=j&amp;q=&amp;esrc=s&amp;source=web&amp;cd=2&amp;sqi=2&amp;ved=0CCcQFjAB&amp;url=https%3A%2F%2Ftwitter.com%2Ftwentyminutevc%3Flang%3Den-gb&amp;ei=-B9jVZ-DB8z8UMLGgcAE&amp;usg=AFQjCNHcygppyqTNaiuOUOohQIk-Qg-1jQ&amp;sig2=RdW8MFVH350eAjnjAfVz0w&amp;bvm=bv.93990622,d.d24" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">The Twenty Minute VC</a> on Twitter.

How to Pitch a Top VC with Simon Menashy @ MMC Ventures